Managing successful remote teams

The "new normal", as we are calling post-pandemic life, will bring with it a lot of different habits and adaptations will be necessary, especially in the way we work. Remote teams, working from their own homes (or wherever else they want), are growing every day, and we need to know how to manage and develop them properly. 

Brazil is the third fastest growing country regarding the home office model, did you know? According to a survey by Robert Half, a specialist staffing firm, the country is second only to China and Singapore, two major economic powers. 

In the year 2018, home office broke a record here in Brazil, with its highest rate of workers doing their tasks at home. IBGE marked, at that point, 3.8 million Brazilians. 

Data like this proves that even before the pandemic, this was already a real trend, and it is the role of the management layer of companies to develop techniques and learn how to deal with remote teams, so that they can perform as well as those that are allocated. 

The "new normal" will bring with it a much larger number of companies adopting remote working models, or even hybrid models. Organisations have realised that it is possible to manage teams that are away from the workplace and save money on the company's physical environment. 

Thinking about the challenges ahead, Alymente has selected some tips to make the best management of remote teams possible. Check them out!

Use and abuse tools to manage remote teams

Tools and software are already widely used in the most diverse areas of the market to help the management of teams in companies, but when the subject is remote teams, tools are the basis of everything and become primordial so that it is possible to maintain control. 

Software that aids communication is the first thing that should be used. There needs to be a direct channel for exchanging instant messages between team members. This way, unnecessary emails and calls are avoided. 

You can choose tools like Slack, Hangouts, Google Meet or Skype, for example. WhatsApp is not the most suitable for this exchange, mainly because it is considered an app for informal use. 

Furthermore, choosing a software or application that assists in the management of time and tasks is also important to have control over the progress of projects and the time that each employee is spending on each of the tasks. 

When we talk about time and task management, it is important to remember that this control is not only relevant for the management layer to perform analysis and draw conclusions, but also helps the employees themselves to get organised and create routines. 

Some options are Trello, Asana and Runrun.it. The latter also helps to analyse how much each project is costing the company based on the hourly rate of each of the employees who are registered on the project at that moment.

Document processes

Taking the time to document the processes in your area can have a huge payoff for your team. Record your screen showing how to do certain tasks and make this material available in an open folder for everyone to look at. This will avoid mistakes, rework and will decrease the chance of being asked how to perform these tasks, saving you time. 

Also, instruct remote teams to formalise and document their actions, especially when it comes to external communications. Store emails, conversations, documents and any other type of record in an easily accessible location. 

If an accident happens to an employee or you lose contact with them from one day to the next, it is important to know where to find the data about the work they were doing.

Create links

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for those who need to manage remote teams is creating true bonds with their team. This is because when we don't have daily physical contact, with coffees, lunch and close communication, the relationship ends up being more distant. However, synchronized teams work better and, for this, nothing better than cultivating good relationships. 

Interpersonal contact is key. One way to help create it is through daily meetings using the camera. Everyone should have their images enabled for this moment. 

An interesting idea is to use some agile methodology, such as Scrum. In this way, you can create a culture of small daily alignments with the people in your team that, at the same time, end up relating and creating bonds. 

Betting on software, technologies, applications to organise and document processes, as well as helping to create bonds through alignments with the teams is only the beginning of managing successful remote teams, but this is certainly the starting point that every manager needs.

Did you like this article? Keep reading more on the topic on Alymente's blog!